The authors propose and demonstrate a technique to determine the ion incidence angle dependence of the ion-enhanced etching yield under realistic plasma conditions and in situ in an arbitrary plasma reactor. The technique is based on measuring the etch rate as a function of position along the walls of features that initially have nearly semicircular cross sections. These initial feature shapes can be easily obtained by wet or isotropic plasma etching of holes patterned through a mask. The etch rate as a function of distance along the feature profile provides the etching yield as a function of the ion incidence angle. The etch rates are measured by comparing digitized scanning electron micrograph cross sections of the features before and after plasma etching in gas mixtures of interest. The authors have applied this technique to measure the ion incidence angle dependence of the Si etching yield in HBr, , , and plasmas and binary mixtures of and with . Advantages and limitations of this method are also discussed.
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November 2006
Research Article|
October 20 2006
In situ measurement of the ion incidence angle dependence of the ion-enhanced etching yield in plasma reactors
Rodolfo Jun Belen;
Rodolfo Jun Belen
Department of Chemical Engineering,
University of California
, Santa Barbara, California 93106
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Sergi Gomez;
Sergi Gomez
Department of Chemical Engineering,
University of California
, Santa Barbara, California 93106
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Mark Kiehlbauch;
Mark Kiehlbauch
Lam Research Corporation
, 4400 Cushing Parkway, Fremont, California 94538
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Eray S. Aydil
Eray S. Aydil
a)
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science,
University of Minnesota
, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55343-0132
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a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; electronic mail: aydil@umn.edu
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 24, 2176–2186 (2006)
Article history
Received:
June 19 2006
Accepted:
September 18 2006
Citation
Rodolfo Jun Belen, Sergi Gomez, Mark Kiehlbauch, Eray S. Aydil; In situ measurement of the ion incidence angle dependence of the ion-enhanced etching yield in plasma reactors. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 November 2006; 24 (6): 2176–2186. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.2362725
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